{
  "id": 6696519,
  "title": "Climate 'Feedback Loops' Could Worsen Global Warming By 30%, Study Finds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/climate-feedback-loops-could-worsen-global-warming-by-30-study-finds",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-11T03:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Slashdot",
    "slug": "slashdot",
    "url": "https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/09/11/0014223/climate-feedback-loops-could-worsen-global-warming-by-30-study-finds"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A new study reveals that rising global temperatures from fossil fuel emissions are transforming forests, wetlands, and tundra into sources of further warming. Thawing permafrost, more intense wildfires, and warming lakes release methane and carbon dioxide from trees and soils, exacerbating the climate crisis. While scientists have known about these feedback loops, emissions from natural sources have been largely overlooked in climate projections. The study found that natural sources could amplify global warming by 20% to 30% by the end of this century, adding 0.2°C to 0.4°C to the global average temperature. This additional heating is significant, depending on the actions taken by countries to combat the climate crisis. Under optimistic climate scenarios, natural sources will add 0.2°C of warming, while under a worse case scenario, 0.4°C will likely be added. Current government policies are likely to lead to a global temperature rise of 2.6°C above pre-industrial times, causing severe disruptions and hardships for billions of people. The study's lead author, Sam Abernethy, emphasized that the hidden multiplier is currently missing from climate models, leading to underestimation of warming and overestimation of carbon emissions. Co-author Rob Jackson described the disruption of the world's carbon cycles as a wake-up call, stressing the importance of including these findings in future climate policies to meet global climate goals.",
  "summary": "An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Rising global temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels are transforming the world's forests, wetlands and tundra to the point they are releasing emissions that could further worsen global heating by as much as 30%, a new study has found. As the world heats up, permafrost in the high latitudes is thawing, fiercer wildfires are…",
  "key_points": [
    "Feedback loops could worsen global warming by 20% to 30% by century's end.",
    "Thawing permafrost, wildfires, and warming lakes release methane and CO2.",
    "Current policies may lead to 2.6°C global temperature rise above pre-industrial levels."
  ],
  "editors_take": "The study's findings that natural sources could amplify global warming by 20% to 30% means current climate projections likely underestimate warming and overestimate allowable carbon emissions.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}